super. human.

Question 1

who created the advert?

Answer 1

bradford young, the oscar nominated cinematographer and first african-american cinematographer to be nominated for his work on the film arrival.

Question 2

how was the advert devised and produced?

Answer 2

by channel 4’s in house creative agency 4creative and produced by serial pictures and somesuch, a global production company.

Question 3

what does the advert ecplore?

Answer 3

the sacrifices made and the trials endured by paralympic athletes in preparation for the 2020 tokyo paralympic games.

Question 4

what were the producers of this sub-genre of adverts aware of and how do they overcome this?

Answer 4

compassion fatigue, so they try to look at the event or issue from a different perspective, which is usually more positive or upbeat.

Question 5

how is

Question 6

what can be said about the audio codes?

Answer 6

the song ‘so you want to be a boxer’ communicates the struggles of being a disabled athlete while still giving it a positive feel. more typical conventions (eg voice over and dramatic music) appear at the start but rapidly change to the reality of daily life. sound effects emphasise this.

Question 7

how does this advert rely on technical codes and editing?

Answer 7

close up shots of expressions engage the audience and portray aspects of disability in a non-victim way. eg. ellie simmonds shots display determination, slow motion on cycling track create a dramatic feel.

Question 8

how do visual codes communicate meanings?

Answer 8

iconography and settings relate to each athlete and sport, eg. ellie simmonds puts on goggles at a swimming pool, but these are juxtaposed with domestic scenes of everyday life, suggesting the normality of their situation.

Question 9

what do gestures communicate?

Answer 9

frustration, competition and celebration, visually highlighting the result of hard work.

Question 10

what does the narrative follow?

Answer 10

the lives of paralympians and their battle through training. the sequence with the athlete singing happy birthday on his phone reinforces the clash between sport and family, further establishing the athletes as real people.

Question 11

how are the more stylised sequences constructed to convey meaning?

Answer 11

the dream sequence reappears later in the advert and is edited with a channel 4 news clip announcing the postponement of the paralymic games. the impact of this is shown as the athletes ‘fall over the edge’.

Question 12

how does the advert use humour to convey meaning?

Answer 12

the image of the hamster on the wheel and the ‘puke bucket’ are recognisable visual signifiers of struggle. the animated sequences also insert aspects of comedy into what is a gurelling regime.

Question 13

what can be said about codes and conventions (barthes semiotics)?

Answer 13

clothing is used to quickly place the athletes in their sports, and these contrast with their everyday lives. these signs serve to illustrate aspects of the lives of the people and creates realism. signs and codes also challenge the creation of myths around disability.

Question 14

how does the advert make use of binary oppositions (levi-strauss structuralism)?

Answer 14

the images of the gruelling training regimes are contrasted with the celebratory images at the end of the advert when success is achieved; the dream sequence use dramatic images, music and a rich colour palette and reality uses ambient lighting and sudden sounds; animated and archive footage are used.

Question 15

what can be said about the on-screen graphic ‘to be a paralympian theres got to be something wrong with you’?

Answer 15

it creates a conceptual binary opposition between audience perceptions and reality. challenges how language is used set against the reality of positive images in the advert. juxtaposition between being a paralymic athlete at the peak of their powers and being unable to get into a cafe.

Question 16

what is the aim of the advert?

Answer 16

to address the marginalisation of those with disabilities, reflecting the ideology and ethos of channel 4 which is to give a voice to those who are not usually represented positively in media.

Question 17

how does the advert avoid negative stereotypical representations?

Answer 17

creates a realistic, ‘blood and guts’ feel, covering both genders and giving a different view of the world of disability to that of ‘having something wrong with you’.

Question 18

why are narratives centred around real people but through re-presentation?

Answer 18

a representation of reality is constructed focusing specifically on the challenges that athletes face.

Question 19

what does the combination of filming, editing and audio codes construct a representation of?

Answer 19

a representation of the social group, raising awareness of the paralympians as athletes first, rather than disabled people ‘trying their best’.

Question 20

what stereotypes have the producers aimed to avoide?

Answer 20

disabled athletes having to ‘overcome’ their disability in order to achieve success. instead they celebrate them as high performance athletes in their own right.

Question 21

what do the close up shots of the athletes and their training and home lives create?

Answer 21

positive representations of ordinary people with whom the audience can positively associate.

Question 22

what does the fast paced editing enable?

Answer 22

enables the advert to highlight a range of narratives and athletes with different disabilities, disciplines and challenges.

Question 23

what can be said about hall’s representation theory?

Answer 23

addresses the assertions what stereotyping occurs when there are inequalities of power and that excluded groups (eg disabled) are constructed as different. the focus is not on the disabilities, the athletes are 3d and distinct from one another - this avoids simplifying their rep.